Hello all,
I can't help but to question the existence of God particularly because of suffering in the world. e.g. I read the news regarding 5yo being raped and killed to say the least amongst all the other pain experienced by myself or others in the world.
I have read about the Adam and Eve answers but I don't quite understand - why would God create that tree just to test Adam and Eve but punishing us when we're totally unrelated? I have also heard answers about free will, why create hatred just so we can feel loved? Why not just fill us with a copious amount of love with free will of who we interact with so that we feel loved by each other everyday (just our choice on who we want to interact with but regardless, still loving one another) whether on Earth or in Heaven. What's the point of all these "tests" and "temporary time" on Earth?
Feels like God is treating us like an experiment in someway.
Hello Donkky12.
Great questions. I asked those same questions way back when I first became a believer. In fact, I still ask a couple of those questions today, but now it's in defence of the gospel. I'll try and explain what I've come to understand over the years and hopefully it will be of help to you. I'll also try and keep this short as I do have a tendency to write long answers.
God has created us for a relationship. For us to have a relationship with God, in the truest sense of the word, we must also be free to deny this relationship. This means we are going to need freewill. Freewill, simply put, is the ability to choose between good and evil, right and wrong, and then to act according to our choice. But, more accurately, freewill is our God given freedom to deny him. Now in order to give man freewill, God will have to allow us the knowledge of good and evil. Before the fall man did not have this knowledge. We see this confirmed by both the serpent, Gen 3:5 and God, Gen 3:22. The only knowledge man had up until the fall was what God revealed to him in the previous chapter. Without the knowledge of Evil, one cannot distinguish what is good and vise versa. How is man to recognize that God is all good and loving without knowing what God is not? You don't choose to be in a relationship with someone you don't even know.
By placing the tree of knowledge in the garden and commanding Adam not to eat from it, God created the potential for free will. However, I truly believe if it wasn't for the serpent, neither Adam or Eve would have ever eaten from that tree. The serpent had it's roll to play. I believe this because God does nothing without intent and purpose. When man ate from the tree, his eyes were opened knowing both good and evil. Man now has choice and therefore freewill. But. there's a problem. God by his very nature is a just God.
He creates man for a relationship which is going to require that he allows man freewill. Freewill means allowing the knowledge of both good and evil, but because God is just, he must punish that evil. And the punishment for evil is spiritual death. Spiritual death means no possibility of a relationship with God. Why? Because God is spirit. It is only through our spirit, which is a part of the image we were created in, that we are able to have a relationship with God.
So, what's the solution? You guessed it. Jesus! It was predestined before the beginning of time that we would be children of God, but through Jesus. Jesus payed the penalty for the sin that God had to allow so that we can choose, or choose not, a relationship with God. Jesus paying this penalty has made us essentially sinless in the sight of God. We have been set free from punishment. Meaning, should we choose a relationship with God, we will receive new spiritual life. This spiritual life will be eternal since the only thing that could destroy it was taken care of at the cross.
There is no denying the suffering created by sin seen throughout the world and across time. But, the darker the world gets as a result of sin, the brighter God shines as a result of his love. How we experience God's love will be different for all of us, but once you experience it, there is no denying it only sharing it.